Observations, reviews and interviews of Dom Romeo, Professional Nerd

“I graduated on Thursday, so no more school
forever!” Nina informs me, which comes as a surprise. Not for the reason you might think.

First time I saw Nina Oyama
perform, she was in her school uniform, school bag in tow, evidently having come directly to the gig from school.

“Actually,” she says, “I’d come via work. It was a choice between the work uniform and the school uniform.” The work was Maccas, and Nina had already gigged in the Maccas uniform; clever and dedicated from the beginning, she was keen to see whether the same material got a different response with a different uniform…

Next thing I hear, Nina had dropped out
of school. And was hanging out with that Phuklubcrowd. Suddenly I’m acting even older than I am, since an old man rant build.
Because – not that it was any of my business – to me, that’s clearly a mistake.

Not just ditching school for a life of
comedy (cos that’s likely to be extremely lucrative!), but ditching it for a life of comedy where, as a newbie,
you’re plunging headlong into the world of
alternative-and-not-necessarily-funny comedy. (I’m not having a go; the Phuklub comedians are hilarious and what
they’re doing is important – see my write-up.)

I’m just saying: breaking all the rules in
comedy is all very well. It’s certainly better than breaking all the rules in
school – more advantageous dropping out if that’s the case – but as in all art,
in comedy, it’s better to have learnt the rules before you break them, because
then you know what you’re doing. Even if you don’t quite know where you’re going, you can have the faith that you’ll come back safely, and the audience are aware of that even if they don’t realise it, so they go with you, and everybody has a fun adventure.

Consider, for example, the
discordant notes that Mike Garson plays in David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’: they work as
music despite being all over the place rhythmically, melodically and harmonically because there is form and technique to the mess. As opposed to someone just hitting
random notes heavy-handedly. Those years of learning scales and technique pay off.

Except, perhaps it isn’t. Perhaps learning
stagecraft while being polite and predictable is less valuable than learning
how to fly blind, to jump and hope the net will appear.

But there’s no need to deploy the old man
rant. Not just because Nina has been sensible enough to spend as much time in
more traditional comedy rooms as she has in experimental variety, honing her craft to a great degree for such a short time at it. Also because, as she puts it, she “went back to school, tail between my legs, and completed Year 12
successfully”. Oh, she’s still got to sit the Higher School Certificate examinations, rest
assured. Which means buckling down and studying almost immediately. But not before one spectacular ‘last hurrah’. Which is why we’re talking. Before she hits the books with a vengence, Nina’s performing in a show she put together for the Sydney Fringe Festival, featuring a bunch of fellow kid comedians.

“I wanted to do a Fringe show but I didn’t think I was able to do it by myself,” Nina reckons. Having made the Class
Clowns final this year, she figured, “man, there is just so much talent and
people who are young have so much cred,” so she put a show together around
some of her Class Clown peers.

Well, I say ‘peers’; at the ripe old age of 19,
Nina is the senior member of the group. They’re already being noticed by people who matter in the industry, but what’s most important is that they’re funny. I’ll let them speak for themselves through their own press bios.

Neel Kolhatkar
(18) – With titles under his belt such as Winner of Class Clowns 2009 and a
performance at the Melbourne International Teen Gala 2011, Neel is definitely
one to watch. A master of impressions, reviewers have described his stand up as
warm, casual and current. Neel’s other passion is gangster rap, which he writes
and performs. Neel has never been to jail but considers his tight knit Indian
family a ‘gang’.

Jordan Sharp
(16) – Student, skater and self-confessed serial masturbator, Jordan’s stand up
encompasses what it truly means to be a teenager. Based in the Central Coast of
NSW, Jordan’s laid back storytelling style lead him to become one of the
youngest Class Clowns National Finalists in 2012.

Nina Oyama (19)
– When she was seven, Nina ate bugs as a dare and secretly liked it. Ten years
later, she tried stand up comedy as a dare and secretly liked that too. Finding
it easier to make people laugh, Nina gave up her dream of becoming a
professional bug eater. A Class Clowns State Finalist 2012, her act combines
both music and traditional stand up. Nina has entertained both locally and
interstate. She was recently selected to perform at The Sydney Comedy Store as
part of the Sydney Comedy Festival Showcase. She also writes for the Australian
comedy website BonVivant.com.au. (I'd link to this, but it defaults to the 'Gourmet Explorer' homepage - Dom)

Aaron Chen (17)
– Breathing heavily and pacing nervously across the stage, Aaron doesn’t feel
comfortable until he knows what toothpaste the audience uses. At the precocious
young age of 16, Aaron became one of the youngest paid performers in Sydney.
Aaron’s killer punch lines and savage wit have earned him the accolades of
Class Clowns State Finalist 2011, Winner of Class Clowns 2012 and Quest for the
Best Finalist 2011. Most recently Aaron was given the opportunity to perform at
The Sydney Comedy Store in the Best in Live Comedy Winter Showcase.

Madeleine
Stewart (18) – Despite growing up in the notoriously rough outer suburbs,
Madeleine is one classy young lady, complete with a sharp dress sense and a
penchant for opera singing. Her clean-cut one-liners and political stylings
have had her talked about everywhere, most notably on Wil Anderson’s podcast, TOFOP.
Madeleine was a Class Clowns National Finalist in 2011 and State Finalist in
2012. She also only has one arm; her mother was forced to keep her because the
hospital had a ‘you break it, you bought it’ policy.

Fine print:

Barely Legal is playing Thurs 27 to
Saturday 29 September from 18.30
to 19.30 at the Laugh Garage Comedy Club, Cnr of Park and Elizabeth Street Sydney 2000 (Ph 9264 1161).

Max Cavalera*Tiny snippet of an interview with the Sepultura/Soulfly guitarist that appeared in full in an issue of Live to Ride. (Quite recently, if you’re reading this blurb before I wrote it and put it online…)

My Podcasts

Dedicated comedy showcase featuring live stand-up, interviews, a weekly gig guide and classic comedy clips. Hosted by Dom Romeo and a different guest comedian each week. Some episodes have been transcribed. Show ceased production at the end of 2006, replaced by Stand & Deliver.

Songs of a Misspent Youth

From Beginning To EndThe first real Psychedelic Spew song… originally perpetrated on a Sharp three-in-one hifi stereo system whose pause button was miraculously in perfect alignment with the record and erase heads; that mastertape is long gone. This time round, I [mis]used ProTools.

No Wucken FurriesTheme to a derivative, undergraduate, university sketch comedy show, some of which was actually video taped...